Sociology of Law

Sociology of Law introduces readers to an interdisciplinary understanding of law. It orients the reader to the field and encourages critical dialog. The earlier chapters develop key conceptual tools in studying the content of chapters that follow. Part 1 includes orientations, law in action and the three classic thinkers—Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Karl Marx. Part 2 includes chapters on sociological jurisprudence, critical legal studies and their offsprings, structural functionalism, semiotics and law, socio-legal semiotics, postmodernism and post-postmodernism.

The orientation of the book is critically constructive, with an eye toward examining what is, particularly the included and excluded voices in law, and how things can be otherwise. It challenges conventional understanding of how law functions, situating the field in a historically evolving context and particular political economies. It can be used both at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as in law school. Readers seeking a general understanding, as well as researchers seeking a reference resource for a comprehensive statement with which to engage, will find the book essential reading.

The fourth edition of Sociology of Law has been greatly revised. Many new developments in the field have necessitated a wider framework and significant updating.